It was good to see the equines at the gate this morning, they couldn’t get there yesterday. We are digging some paths, they are making their own paths. These are hardy animals, farm and desert animals, they are symbols of acceptance and adaptability. They do not ever complain about their lives and the snow, they are an independent nation, in no way inferior to us, they are not to be pitied. There is, I wrote the other day, a difference between pity and compassion, between empathy and sympathy.

I embrace compassion and empathy, I am not comfortable with pity or sympathy. One affirms living things, the other patronizes and diminishes them. I appreciate Renee Brown’s thoughts on the difference between empathy and sympathy.